The Center Cannot Hold

Censorship and Queer(ing) Literacies in the Rural South

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7166148
AutoresA Shelton (0000-0001-8270-5992), Stephanie Anne Shelton (0000-0001-5561-4331, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education Chapel Hill North Carolina USA, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume60
Fascículo3
Data de publicação2025-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoReading Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0034-0553 • E-ISSN: 1936-2722
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/rrq.70034
OpenAlexW4411826130
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas43

There are more anti‐LGBTQ+ policies and legislation affecting schools now than ever before. Within this political milieu, teachers navigate censorship, surveillance, community criticism, and curricular mandates that limit or even illegalize their efforts to foster queer‐ and trans‐affirming classrooms. This article presents a case study of Echo's efforts and experiences, as she found her curricular agency and teaching effectiveness stripped away by ever‐increasing restrictions from censorship laws and policies that disallowed ranges of topics, texts, and pedagogical practices—and the ways that she resisted. Based on a 4‐year longitudinal qualitative study, using individual interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations, this discussion focuses on “Echo,” an experienced English Language Arts high school teacher who initially felt defeated by these political restrictions and ultimately found effective counterstrategies through queer pedagogical emphasis on discomfort as a generative and empowering literacy practice

Agency (philosophy) · Censorship · Criticism · Legislation · Literacy · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Queer · Social science · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology